Straight-knitting machine



(No Mode1.) 4 sneets sheet 1.,

W. ROBERTS.

$TRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE.

No.-3 57,632. Patented Feb. 15, 1887.

zWQ g N, P'nzns. Plwmunw n har. wunin mn, D. c.

(N0 Model.) '4 Shets-Sheet 2..

W; ROBERTS. STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Feb. '15, 1887.

It PKTERS, Pholmhognphar, Wuhinflon, D. C.

mammal. 4 Sheets-Sheet 3..

W. ROBERTS; STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 357,632. Patented Feb '15, 1887.

n. PETERS. mawmnusm n Wilhillglnn, 1i 0,

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

W. ROBERTS. STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Feb. 15, 188'].

N. PETERS, 'Phnto-Llmogrlplmr, wuhingion. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

WALTER ROBERTS, OF CANTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO WILLIAM ROBERTS, OF SAME PLACE, AND CHARLES ALBERT SHAW, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. I

STRAIGHT-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,63 te Febr ary 1887- Application filed December 10, 1883. Renewed August 2, 1886. Serial No. 209,793. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER ROBERTS, of Canton, in the county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and 5 useful Improvement in Straight-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a description sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which said invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which-:-

Figure l is an end elevation representing a knitting-machine. provided with my improve I ment, some of the parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the right-hand side of said machine. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the rear thread-carrier, a portion being represented in section 5 Fig. 5, aplan view of the rear latch and thread-guard, and Fig. 6 an isometric view of the front thread-carrier.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures of the drawings.

In ordinary flatbed knitting-machines, more especially of the pattern used in manufacturing fabrics for Cardigan jackets, 8m. and known as the Lamb machine, where the carriage is equipped with two thread carriers and needle-operating cams for the production of a complete course of cardigan work at each traverse of the carriage over the needlebed, said thread-carriers alternately lead and trail.

For instance, the leading thread-carrier as the carriage traverses from right to left becomes the trailing carrier as the carriage returns, or advances from left toright, and vice versa, the result of this arrangement and operation of the carriers being that their respective threads are alternately drawn to the front and rear of the web, or are so interknitted as to show clearly on either side of the fabric.

It is sometimes desirable to use threads of different colorsfor instance, a red thread and a black thread-and that the red should be drawn entirely to one side and the black to the other, so that when the fabric is finished it will be red on one side and black on the other. It is also sometimes desirable to use two qualities of stock, one thread being composed of fine wools and the other of coarse, or one of wool and the other of cotton or cotton and wool, and that the finest or best quality should be drawn to the front, or appear on 5 the right side only of thefabric, the poorer quality being drawn to the back to form the wrong side. To accomplish this-that is, to adapt a knitting-machine of this character to produce what I term plaited goods, as described-is the object of my present invention, which consists in a novel construction and arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, and will be readily understood by all conversant with 6 such matters from the following explanation:

In the drawings, A represents the frame of the machine, B the main driving-shaft, C the shipping-lever, D the hand-wheel, E the needle-bed, G the carriage, and J the friction- 7o rod, all of these parts being of the ordinary construction except the carriage.

Projecting from the front of the carriage there are two brackets, K K, carrying the pivot-screws 2, between which the flat horizontal bar L isjournaled in such a manner as to be capable of being rocked or oscillated, and arranged to slide longitudinally on this bar by means of the clips or bars 4 9 there is a thread-carrier, M, having an upwardly- 8o projecting arm, Z, provided near its top with the thread-guide Z, andat its inner or free end with a thread-eye, 14, as best seen in Fig. 6, an adjustable stop, 95, being secured to either end of the bar L, to keep the thread-carrier 8 5 in proper position.

The clip or bar g is provided near each end with a depression, 3, and attached to clips or bars 96, secured to arms Y W, there are inwardly-projecting horizontally-arranged bent o springs ff, adapted to engage and'hold the bar 9 by falling into the depressions 3, said bar being represented in Fig. 2 as engaged with the springf and the carrier M at the left-hand end of the bar L. 5 Attached to the front of the carriage there are two upwardly-projecting brackets,n n, carrying the crossbar p, on which the carrier M rests, and which acts as a stop to prevent said carrier from falling too low.

A horizontal bar, S, provided with the stops 15 and 25, is secured by the screws 16 on the rear portion of the carriage, and fitted to slide longitudinally on said bar by the clips T there is a thread-carrier, P, having an upwardlyprojeeting arm, 6, provided near its top with the thread-guide m and atits inner or free end with the thread-eye 12. This carrier extends beneath the barS and is provided with ahole, u, into which the stud t projects, the stud extending upwardly from the ordinary friction-block, J, which slides on the rod J, and through an elongated slot, 17, in the plate 8.

A bracket, H, is attached to the right-hand end of the machine, and projecting horizontally and inwardly from this bracket there is a rod, :r, adapted to strike the stud N on the carrier M and stop said carrier, and a bent rod, (1, adapted to engage the arm V and rock the bar L to elevate the carrier M, as hereinafter described,it being understood that corresponding rods are disposed at the left-hand end of the machine.

Disposed on the rear of the carriage beneath the bar S, and secured to said carriage by the screws 9, there is a plate, 8, provided with the elongated slot 17, in which the stud t works, and attached to the plate 8 by the screws 18 there is a latch and thread-guard, B. This guard consists, preferably, of a thin piece of sheet metal, which is rounded at its ends 10 and curved inwardly at its center 11, as best seen in Fig. 5. It is also curved or arched in crosssection, as seen in Fig. 4.. A corresponding guard, Q, is disposed on the front of the carriage, being supported by the arms a n and held in parallelism with the guard R and also on the same plane. This guard is also rounded at its ends 10 and curved inwardly at its centerll, and is also curved or arched in crosssection in the same manner as the guard R, the guards being so arranged with respect to each other as to leave a space,6, between them, the space being about three-quarters of an inch in width at its center and sufficiently wide at other points to permit the thread-eyes 12 and 14 to pass freely betweenthem.

Attached to the carriage G there are two arms, 7 V, provided with holes in their ends through which the rod J passes, the arms acting as auxiliary supports to the rod and to prevent it from vibrating, it being understood that said rod is additionally supported in the ordinary manner at the ends of the machine.

The arms Y V project downwardly from and are secured to the bar L, one at either end, and projecting upwardly from said bar there are also two arms, h h, the latter being preferably disposed opposite to and, if desired, in tegral with the arms Y V, the arms h being acted upon by springs 1', attached to the carriage, and which serve to keep the carrier M in contact with the stop or bar 1).

The guards Q R take the place of the ordinary latchguards of the machine, which are necessarily omitted on account of their liability to catch and break the threads during the transposition of the same. Each of the guards Q R serves the same purpose as two of the ordinary guards, and, being rounded at their ends, as seen at 10, and curved at their centers, as seen at 11, they permit the thread-eyes 12 and 14 to pass each other freely, and at the same time prevent the threads from catching on said guards. The rounded ends 10 of the guards also prevent the latches of the needles 37 from unduly closing at those points as the needles rise, while the curved portions 11, which form the space 6, permit the latches to close properly as the needles descend. For instance, when the carriage traverses over the needlebed the needles in front of the approaching carriage are forced upwardly through the loops in the usual manner, the loops sliding down over the latches of the needles; but as the loops are shed from the latches and pass onto the bodies of the needles the tension or strain on the yarn or thread springs the latches slightly, and when the latches are released by the loops they tend to fly upwardly and partially close. The rounded portions 10 of the guards Q R at the front of the advancing carriage then act to open, any of thelatches which may have been partially closed, as described, and to keep them open, as the ear riage passes over them, until the needles are withdrawn, which occurs when they are opposite the curved portions 11 of the guards, said curves permitting the latches to close as the needles are drawn downwardly through their loops, which, if the guards were straight at their centers, could not be accomplished, as the latches would then catch on the guards at that point.

As heretofore stated, in the ordinary machine the thread-carriers alternately lead and trail as the carriage traverses back and forth over the needle-bed, the result being a fabric which is alike on both sides.

In my improved machine the position of the thread-carriers is changed or reversed at each traverse of the carriage, thereby causing one and the same carrier to lead at all times when over the working needles of the machine, whether the carriage is moving from right to left or left to right, the result being that one of the threads (the trailing) will always be drawn to the front or right side, and the other (the leading) to the back or wrong side of the fabric, thereby producing a plaited fabric, or one of two qualities of stock, or two colors, or both, as desired, or in accordance with the quality and colors of the threads used.

To cause one of the thread-carriers to lead and the other to trail continuously, it is necessary to transpose them at each end of the route traversed by the carriage. For instance, the carrier M leads and the carrier 1? trails as the carriage G traverses from left to right. In order, therefore, to have the same carrier lead on the return of the carriage from the right to the left hand end of the machine, it is ICC the stud t of the block projects.

necessary to bring the carrier M to the front or left of the carrier P at the time or before the reverse movement of the carriage commences.

The transposition of the thread-carriers is accomplished as follows, to wit: The threadcarrier M being at the right-hand end of the carriage G and held in position by the springcatch fin one of the notches 3 of the bar 9, and the thread-carrier P at the left-hand end of the carriage, with its clips T against the stop 15, if, now, the carriage G is caused to traverse toward the right-hand end of the machine the thread-carrier M will lead-and the thread-carrier P will trail. WVhen the carriage has proceeded far enough on its course to bring the stud N, which projects upwardly from the carrier M into contact with the rod or, the carrier will be stopped, but the carriage will continue to advance, disengaging the spring-catch f from the bar gand causing said carrier to remain stationary. As the carriage advances, the arm WV is brought. into contact with the bent rod 61, causing the bar L to rock or be partially rotated on its pivotal screws 2 and thecarrier M to be tilted or raised out of the path of the trailingcarrier P. The carriage continuing to advance toward the right, with the threadcarrier M elevated, the spring-catch f engages the bar- 9, after which engagement the carriage is reversed in the usual manner and commences to travel toward the left, the carrier M vated. As the carriage G proceeds toward the left the carrier P is held stationary by the friction-block J on the rod J until the clips T are brought into contact with the stop 25 on the right-hand end of the carriage. In the meantime,the carriage continuing to advance toward the left, the carrier M passes the car rier P and the arm W is withdrawn from beneath the bent rod d, permitting the bar L to partially rotate and the carrier M to drop onto the bar or stop 19, in which position it is held by the spring a, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The carriage now advances to the left-hand end of the needle-bed, the carrier M leading and the carrier P trailing, the action of the friction-block J on the rod J being overcome by the advancing carriage,'said block being moved forward by the carrier P, into which When the carriage reaches the left-hand end of the needle-bed, as the thread-carriers are again transposed in substantially the same manner as already described, it is not deemed essential to explain the operation more fully. At the time the transposition of the threads takes place both of the carriers are outside of or beyond the needles in the needle-bed of the machine.

It will be understood that the guards Q R, thread-carriers M P, bars SL, arms, and all other leading parts of the machine are rendered adjustable by slots and screws, as shown in the drawings, or by other suitable appliances for that purpose.

being still ele-- As the needle-bed of the machine, the needles and their camsand operative mechanism, and also the mechanism for causing regular reverse or reciprocating movements of the carriage are of the ordinary construction found in the Lamb machines of this general character, it is not deemed necessary to show all of the needles or said other parts, or to give a more particular description of thesame.

Having thus explained my invention, What I claim is-- 1. The combination of the needle-bed, the needles, the carriage, the thread carriers adapted to be transposed, and the guards rounded at their outer ends and concavely curved at their centers, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the needle-bed, the

needles, the carriage,'a rocking bar on said carriage, a thread-carrier connected to said bar and adapted to rock therewith and slide thereon, means for detachably locking said thread-carrier at each end of said bar, means for rocking said bar, and a thread-carrier adapted to slidelongitudinallyof said carriage, but not to rock, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the needle-bed, the needles, the carriage, the carrier M, provided with the thread-eye 14, clips 4 g, and the stud N, the carrier P, the rocking bar L, provided with the arms Y W h, the springs iff, and rods x d, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the needle-bed, the needles, the carriage, a horizontal bar attached to .the rear of said carriage and provided ICO with stops at its opposite ends, a thread-carrier adapted to slide on said bar between said stops, a rod parallel with said bar, and a friction block or slide on said rod adapted to engage said thread-carrier, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the needle-bed, the needles, the carriage, the transposing threadcarriers, and a guard or guards. having a concave face and adapted to prevent the threads from catching as the thread-carriers are trans posed and to keep the latches of the needles open and permit them to close, substantially as described.

6. The bar 9, in combination with the carriage G, thread-carrier M, and rocking bar L, substantially as described.

7. The rod d, in combination with the car riage G, the rocking bar L, having the arms Y W h, spring 2', and thread-carrier M, sub stantially as and for the purpose specified.

8. The springsff, in combination with the bar L, rod 00, carrier M, having the stud N, and clip having the depressions 3, substantially as described.

WALTER ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

WM. K. HAWES, THOMAS E. GROVER. 

